Halloween Bingo 2022
I am fortunate to be able to use this month's Appointment with Agatha book towards a Bingo square. I first read this book at Christmas five years ago, but none of the details had stuck with me. Dame Agatha has fooled me twice with the same book. This time out, I noticed the dedication to Christie's brother-in-law, noting that she had provided a bloody murder scene with no doubts that it was a murder. Indeed, she uses a quote from Macbeth to emphasize the bloodiness: Who knew the old man had so much blood in him?
This mystery reminded me a bit of Georgette Heyer's A Christmas Party, which also features a hated family patriarch whose body is found in a locked room. Both are filled with family members that it is difficult to like. Christie throws in her own special twists, however, based on the bragging of her main character about his successes in life. She plays so masterfully on our trust.
This is objectively not one of her better novels, but it is a great Christmas book. As Poirot warns, all the togetherness of the season results in heightened family tension! The whole solution is so convoluted that it is a marvel that even Poirot could unravel it. Lots of fun and an amusing surprise ending.
I read this for the Home for the Horrordays square of my Bingo card.
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